Hyundai Mobis to develop full range of autonomous driving sensors by 2020; new efforts in radar

Supplier Hyundai Mobis plans to develop a full range of sensors to support autonomous by 2020 with the goal of leading the global market.

The company made the announcement at its new
proving ground, which opened last June in Seosan, South Korea, as a test bed
for new technologies.

The company will increase its R&D investment
cost from the current level of 7% of its parts sales to 10% by 2021. It will
also invest 50% of it in ICT (information and communication technology), which
is closely related to autonomous driving, expanding related R&D workforce
and infrastructure and actively promoting technical partnerships with global
companies.

We are aggressively investing in autonomous driving
technologies. We will also increase our R&D workforce for autonomous
driving from the current level of 600 to over 1,000 by 2021 and increase the
number of M.Billy, our global autonomous test vehicles, from 3 to 20 by next
year.

—Yang Seung-wook, Executive VP of ICT R&D
Center at Hyundai Mobis

Hyundai Mobis has signed a partnership to develop
radars with German companies Smartmicro and ASTYX; the former jointly developed
radars with TRW and Continental, and the latter with BMW and Autoliv.

Working with SMS and ASTYX, Hyundai Mobis will
develop five radars for autonomous cars, which can allow cars to detect 360°
around them by the end of this year and begin full-fledged production by 2021.
The company will cooperate with SMS for entry-level front and side radars and
with ASTYX for high-performance front radars. It will also complete a joint
R&D project with Seoul National University for radar target
distinguishment.